BMC aiming to reduce malaria deaths to 2-digit figure

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is aiming to reduce the deaths by malaria in the metropolis to a two-digit number this monsoon.

The toll was reduced from 198 in 2009 to 145 in 2010, said additional commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar yesterday.

"We are aiming to bring the number of deaths to a two-digit figure, if not zero, this monsoon," said Mhaiskar, speaking at a seminar on malaria eradication, jointly organised with Observer Research Foundation.

"To make the city free of malaria is not a utopian thought, it is possible with the cooperation of various stake-holders," she said.

"One of the important things we want the people to be alert about is the stagnant water, as it is the breeding ground of the mosquito which is the vector of the disease," she said.

Deaths due to malaria can also be prevented if patients are brought for treatment early on, she said.

Last year, 1.5 lakh construction workers were tested for malaria, and with a sustained drive, the number of positive cases at the construction sites had come down drastically, Mhaiskar said.